California Gov Gavin Newsom signs executive order to pull National Guard troops from the state’s southern border with Mexico
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order to withdraw several hundred National Guard troops from the state’s southern border with Mexico to defy the Trump administration’s request for support from border states.
“The border ’emergency’ is a manufactured crisis, and California will not be part of this political theater,” were the words from the published transcript of Newsom’s State of the State address.
Only 100 of the 360 troops will remain deployed under California’s agreement with the federal government to focus specifically on combating transnational crime such as drug and gun smuggling, explained Newsom spokesman Nathan Click said.
Click added that troops will be tasked with providing intelligence on transnational crime and assist with cargo dock operations and searches of commercial trucks for contraband.
Newsom’s order argues that the increase in Central American migrants crossing over the border is the result of a desire to escape violence and repression fueled in part by the activities of transnational crime organizations. The California guard’s resources are best spent tackling those activities
California joins the moves by others: New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, also a Democrat, pulling back her state’s troops from the U.S.-Mexico border.
Texas and Arizona still have troops on the border.